In order to increase fuel economy, there has been a constant quest to reduce the physical envelope of the vehicle engine so that the engine compartment may be made smaller to accomplish aerodynamic improvements in the overall vehicle. Additionally, another trend to improve vehicle fuel economy is to go to fuel injection systems wherein each engine cylinder receives fuel from an individualized fuel injector.
Most V-type automotive engines utilize two separate fuel manifolds (more commonly referred to as fuel rails), which deliver fuel pressurized by a fuel pump to a group or bank of fuel injectors. In most applications, the fuel rails are connected to brackets. The brackets typically are spaced apart and an air manifold is placed between the two separate fuel rails. It is well known to those skilled in the art that many automotive vehicles which utilize fuel injectors, require some method of dampening pressure pulsations (caused by the rapid opening and closing of the fuel injectors) within the fuel rail so that there may be an accurate delivery of fuel by the fuel injectors.
Initially, fuel pressure pulsations were mainly dampened by the addition of a pressure dampener connected directly to the fuel rail or via a line leading to the fuel rail. Increasingly, it has been desirable to eliminate using a separate component damper and to utilize the fuel rail itself for dampening pulsations. This tendency of utilizing the fuel rail itself to dampen pulsations has caused the overall size of fuel rails to generally increase.
It is desirable that the space envelope taken up by the fuel delivery system of the vehicle be minimized due to overall engine compartment space considerations. It is desirable to provide an air fuel delivery system wherein for a V-type engine, both fuel rails may be placed in a more central location.